This application is related to the following applications and issued patents titled:
L-Drive, U.S. Pat. No. 4,907,994:
Exhaust System for a Boat Propulsion Device, Ser. No. 07/062,227; now abandoned in favor of a continuing application, Ser. No. 07/453,333; filed on Dec. 18, 1989, now abandoned:
Boat Propulsion Device with Internal Exhaust, U.S. Pat. No. 4,911,666: and
Driveshaft Housing for a Boat Propulsion Device Ser. No. 07/062,228, now abandoned.
All of the above first applications or patents were originally filed concurrently on Jun. 15, 1987.
The field of the present invention is a boat propulsion device and more particularly concerns the mounting, steering and trimming/tilting of a boat propulsion device having an engine inside a boat and attaching through a bottom surface of the boat to a drive under the boat which swings under the boat for steering and trimming/tilting.
Prior boat propulsion devices which provide steering and trimming of a drive include the stern drive and the outboard. The stern drive has an engine inside the boat and a drive at the rear of the boat. The outboard is an unit assembly of engine and drive mounted outside the boat. Other prior propulsion devices that have an engine inside the boat and a drive under the boat do not provide the drive with steering and trimming. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,209,302 issued to L. J. Johnson et al steering of a drive and tilting of a drive described. In U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,976,836 and 3,164,122 issued to L. J. Fageol steering and trimming of the entire boat propulsion device as an unit is described.
The stern drive and outboard are satisfactory propulsion devices, but they are large, complex and costly. The other prior drives described above are not particularly desirable since they do not provide an arrangement which provides steering and trimming equivalent to the stern drive.